It vastly improves at 22 when you can get Foresight, and then Mind Link a little later. It's painful going up until then, though. Try to team a lot, and support them with Maneuvers and Assault.
Arc #41077 - The Men of State
Arc #48845 - Operation: Dirty Snowball
25+ starts to feel like godmode. That is all.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
Thanks guys, I wont give up then.
I tried to run a Widow twice, and ran into the same thing.
I started a new Widow last week, and have just reached 20, and she is already much better than the struggle of 1-15. Stamina is an issue early, but I love this Widow I'm playing now. She is pretty good, despite having to rest for Stam.
Now, at 20 I have the Stamina Power, and a Perf Shifter +End. She will improve Stamina wise a good deal when I slot two End Mod Enhancements at lvl 21.
The toon is solid, but you just have to get past the Stamina issue in my opinion.
Black-Strike: lvl 50 AR/Dark Corruptor
Brutally Beautiful: lvl 50 BA/Inv Brute
Seared Earth: lvl 50 EC/EA Dominator
Yashi Onuku: lvl 50 Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu Stalker
Death-Widow: lvl 50 Night Widow
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25+ starts to feel like godmode. That is all.
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QFT. Once you get your defence softcapped you'll start to feel like the dev's must have misplaced a decimal point because NOTHING could be this awesome.
...then you get elude...
Yes, Widows get better as they level - they're easier to softcap on defense than SR is, and while they have fewer hit points than Scrappers initially they have higher scaling resistance values (they start at higher health).
The only things you ever have to worry about is enough recharge to get Mind Link perma (not difficult for the Night Widow path, more of a pain for Fortunatas but they have mezzes) and cascade defense failures.
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Originally Posted by Brillig
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
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I will be a night widow, as I already have a fortunata and am not enjoying it very much.
Do what I do: use dual builds.
I've done so on my crab/bane as well as my widow/fort. With the SOA it really like having access to two ATs in one character.
Malakim
-Playing since COH beta and still love the game!
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I made my first widow today on virtue, and made it to 10 ten so far. It's fun but survival is a risky game, having to pop greens and rest often. Does this ever improve? I was hoping it would be more like a brute or scrapper.
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As others have said, once you're in the upper end of the game, you'll wish more of your Brutes and Scrappers felt this way, at least with a Night Widow.
You start to turn the corner in the 22-24 level range.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
-QR-
I agree with the others that they improve noticeably by respec time.
That said, since you know you'll have a mandatory respec, my approach with mine
(early) was to load up on attacks and drop an end rdx in them.
One thing I learned by playing Blasters and Kheldians is that dead mobs leave you
alone. 
More attacks, more damage and a little common sense about aggro management
makes widow survival a lot less problematic imho. My biggest issue was that they're
endurance hogs (which leads to the slotting mentioned above) until stamina.
Survival wasn't as much of an issue.
Regards,
4
I've been rich, and I've been poor. Rich is definitely better.
Light is faster than sound - that's why some people look smart until they speak.
For every seller who leaves the market dirty stinkin' rich,
there's a buyer who leaves the market dirty stinkin' IOed. - Obitus.
They get much stronger after 25+. Just wait when your level 50 with at least 2 kins while your running Elude with rech sets. You'll feel like your in Granite Armor.
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They get much stronger after 25+. Just wait when your level 50 with at least 2 kins
while your running Elude with rech sets. You'll feel like your in Granite Armor.
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Mine's in the high 30's and runs exclusively in duo with my buddy's widow.
Together, they already feel nearly indestructible...
Regards,
4
I've been rich, and I've been poor. Rich is definitely better.
Light is faster than sound - that's why some people look smart until they speak.
For every seller who leaves the market dirty stinkin' rich,
there's a buyer who leaves the market dirty stinkin' IOed. - Obitus.
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They get much stronger after 25+. Just wait when your level 50 with at least 2 kins while your running Elude with rech sets. You'll feel like your in Granite Armor.
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If I have 2 kins backing me up my Emp defender feels like a Granite Armor. That is a lot more support than a Widow should ever need.
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25+ starts to feel like godmode. That is all.
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QFT. Once you get your defence softcapped you'll start to feel like the dev's must have misplaced a decimal point because NOTHING could be this awesome.
...then you get elude...
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So true!! Aahhh elude!!! While I agree the Devs must have made a mistake somewhere, I don't care!! I can tank almost as well as a brute/tank on my widow. The defense is crazy.
Can't hold aggro, true, but can easily take the initial or alpha attack with out a problem.
QR
I felt like my widow was incredibly under powered, and hated playing it...but I painfully got to level 22 (solo...) and got Foresight and filled up on SOs...now I LOVE my widow. It's so much better. I can't wait to turn into a Fortunata 
The Fort does have a better selection for set bonuses, but don't go with out at least trying the widow at the upper levels. You will end up spending a fortune because you will love both equally.
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I made my first widow today on virtue, and made it to 10 ten so far. It's fun but survival is a risky game, having to pop greens and rest often. Does this ever improve? I was hoping it would be more like a brute or scrapper.
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Maneuver + Foresight + Mind Link = god mode.
SoA starts out kinda weak when you solo but I believe SoA's design is for "team play". If you have a few SoA with leaderships, it's very powerful.
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
Stuck at 17 and losing my patience, trying to solo the arachnos missions to see the content. -_-
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Do what I do: use dual builds.
I've done so on my crab/bane as well as my widow/fort. With the SOA it really like having access to two ATs in one character.
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That is what I do as well... its really nice, I have to say.
The Night Widow build is half empty on enhancements, but still has a decent amount of survivability, although it hurts for endurance usually. My Fortunata is using almost all common IO's and SO's, and there have been mishes where I've been the primary means of aggro management for decently large teams of 6-8 players. Between the control powers and my Defenses/Mind Link... its almost too easy to stay alive.
As far as the endurance/survivability pain of Widows in low levels... I have to say I agree... it was rough (on my Crab/Bane as well). I found that using 1x End reduction in my attacks helped some on the endurance front though.
Things got a LOT better once I was able to slot SO's too. I don't have any IO sets in my VEATs yet, but at this point endurance management isn't terrible. I usually make sure I've got a couple of blues handy to keep me rolling when soloing, which also helps.
Once you're able to specialize and you get Mind Link to compliment your other Defense powers... its really amazing how easy it is to stay alive the vast majority of the time.
My Fort solo'd a two-boss spawn two nights ago (both bosses conned purple as they were +2 to my level). One was a Death Mage and the other a Chief Rikti Soldier. It was one of the mishes for Ashley McKnight in a cave. I popped two reds for insps, Hasten, and Mind Link. Late in the fight on the second boss (the CRS), I had to pop a small green and two small blues. Otherwise I was fine for survivability, which more or less shocked me. I had to send a tell to an SG mate who was playing on another server about it. 
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As far as the endurance/survivability pain of Widows in low levels... I have to say I agree... it was rough (on my Crab/Bane as well). I found that using 1x End reduction in my attacks helped some on the endurance front though.
Things got a LOT better once I was able to slot SO's too. I don't have any IO sets in my VEATs yet, but at this point endurance management isn't terrible. I usually make sure I've got a couple of blues handy to keep me rolling when soloing, which also helps.
Once you're able to specialize and you get Mind Link to compliment your other Defense powers... its really amazing how easy it is to stay alive the vast majority of the time.
My Fort solo'd a two-boss spawn two nights ago (both bosses conned purple as they were +2 to my level). One was a Death Mage and the other a Chief Rikti Soldier. It was one of the mishes for Ashley McKnight in a cave. I popped two reds for insps, Hasten, and Mind Link. Late in the fight on the second boss (the CRS), I had to pop a small green and two small blues. Otherwise I was fine for survivability, which more or less shocked me. I had to send a tell to an SG mate who was playing on another server about it.
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I solo mobs of level 54 bosses in MA and never pop a blue. I do have to pop at least 1-2 greens usually. It's always fun to feel like an overpowered killing machine. 
I felt this way before I ever started slotting for IOs for global rech.
At low levels, what I found made it work for my widow was combining the TT:Assault with Follow-Up and even CT:Offense. Then slotting the attacks for end and damage, leaving my other bonuses to provide most of the accuracy.
It worked quite well. when Lunge is hitting for 90+ with no outside buffs and no insps running using only DOs... well, it goes a lot easier. Just kill things quick and prioritize who needs to be dead *now*.
After 22 it just get easier and easier. Mine is sitting at 37 with near-perma mind link. It kills faster then my brutes ever did, and I've about got the end issues wiggled out to go entire large missions non-stop with no rest and little or no insps.
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Mine is sitting at 37 with near-perma mind link. It kills faster then my brutes ever did, and I've about got the end issues wiggled out to go entire large missions non-stop with no rest and little or no insps.
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Damn, almost perma at 37!
I turned my widow into Blood Widow (follow-up). I use Follow Up and two Assault. The damage buff is crazy...!
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
I have a 50 Night Widow with all IO sets. It's fun to play in PVP. After 24 it gets more fun.
I made my first widow today on virtue, and made it to 10 ten so far. It's fun but survival is a risky game, having to pop greens and rest often. Does this ever improve? I was hoping it would be more like a brute or scrapper.